Could the Steelers be pointed toward a seventh Lombardi Trophy? Don't be surprised. / William Perlman, The Star-Ledger via US Presswire

by USA TODAY Sports, USA TODAY

by USA TODAY Sports, USA TODAY

Now that you've slept on the scores and digested the stats, here's an in-depth look at Week 9 of the NFL season, with observations and analysis by the USA TODAY Sports team.

Take your time reading it while Sean Payton looks over the possible head coach openings in the NFL next season and contacts real estate agents in Philadelphia, San Diego, Cleveland, Jacksonville, Nashville and Dallas. Oh, wait, he already has a home in the Dallas area ...

Ten things we learned in Week 9

1. Doug Martin can turn on the burners at the line of scrimmage. That's where the Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie running back's burst seems to kick in. If he's not slowed down by opposing defensive linemen, look out. That's what the Oakland Raiders learned Sunday as Martin galloped 45, 67 and 70 yards for touchdowns. Sure, in the NFL, running backs are available up and down the draft. But a burst like Martin's is difficult to find. The Bucs found it, and that's why they traded back into the first round last April to select Martin.

2. The Chicago Bears are winning big, which is not easy to do in the NFL. The Bears' 51-20 drubbing of the Tennessee Titans, keyed by Charles Tillman's whopping four forced fumbles, was their fifth victory by a margin of at least 16 points. The win, which marked the first time the Bears had scored that many points since 1980, gave Chicago an average margin of victory of 18.4 points. That's second to the New England Patriots' margin of 19.2 points in wins. But that's only in victories. Factoring in losses, the Bears have outscored their opponents by 116 points (the Houston Texans' 100-point season differential places them second), an indication of their dominance to this point. And not just on defense.

3. Speaking of the Texans, they win easily when Matt Schaub doesn't throw interceptions. He has only four this season, and two came in Houston's lone loss. One came in a six-point victory over the New York Jets, and the other was in a six-point win over the Denver Broncos. When Schaub hasn't been picked off, Houston has won by 20, 20, 24, 30 and 12. That last figure was the difference in Sunday's win over the Buffalo Bills, who badly needed that turnover from Schaub. They didn't get it and flew home losers.

4. The Atlanta Falcons are practically high stepping their way to home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Yes, we just talked about the scorching Bears. But the Falcons are undefeated and, while we don't think they'll go 16-0, they have only one winning team left on their schedule - the New York Giants - and don't face them until Week 15. In the meantime, the 7-1 Bears will have to deal with the Texans, San Francisco 49ers and four games against NFC North rivals. Barring a run of injuries, the road to the Super Bowl in the NFC appears to run through Atlanta. Not that it guarantees anything for the Falcons, who have to prove they can win in January after failing to do so with Matt Ryan and Mike Smith.

5. Andy Dalton should be proud of his 299 yards passing Sunday. The Cincinnati Bengals quarterback is now the closest thing to a 300-yard passer the Denver Broncos have seen this season. There are only two other teams who haven't allowed a quarterback to reach the 300-yard plateau against them so far this year: the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Jets. The Broncos, as they're wont to do, forced a key turnover against Dalton on Sunday courtesy of an interception by Champ Bailey. Dalton had pressure in his face and underthrew the pass to A.J. Green near the right sideline. Peyton Manning turned it into touchdown and an 11-point lead. Ball game.

6. Something is wrong with the Giants offense. Quarterback Eli Manning and receiver Victor Cruz looked like they'd never played a game together in Sunday's loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Manning kept firing just wide of Cruz, which has been a somewhat common sight the past few weeks with those two. And Cruz's fellow wide receiver, Hakeem Nicks, looks nothing like his normal self, even though he vowed to USA TODAY Sports last week he'd soon "emerge." The Giants face the Bengals' 19th-ranked pass defense Sunday and then have their bye. Here's guessing they'll soon figure things out.

7. The Dallas Cowboys must learn how to close out games. This goes back to last season when their last-second losses to the Giants and Arizona Cardinals factored into their season-ending fold. This year, Dallas couldn't complete a comeback against the Baltimore Ravens, lost by the length of Dez Bryant's fingertips to the Giants and then couldn't make a stop on third down in Sunday's loss to the Falcons to get the ball back. They're playing inferior teams at home for much of the second half of the season. But if they don't start putting games away, owner Jerry Jones will be beating down Jason Garrett's door the way he was pounding on the locker room entrance after being locked out Sunday night following his team's loss in the Georgia Dome.

8. Well, well, well. So the Detroit Lions know how to start quickly after all. OK, so they didn't score in the first quarter against the Jacksonville Jaguars yesterday, but they did put up three touchdowns before halftime on their way to a 31-14 victory. This coming Sunday, Detroit will face the Minnesota Vikings, who have had a penchant for playing from behind lately. Start quickly again, and the Lions could finally move above .500 after their 1-3 start to the season.

9. The Miami Dolphins aren't getting Reggie Bush the ball enough. Sure, he had been bothered by the knee injury suffered earlier this season against the New York Jets. But that stick-in-the-ground cutback he had on his 18-yard touchdown run in the second quarter of Sunday's loss to the Indianapolis Colts showed he's back in top form. So there's no reason for Bush to have received only 12 touches yesterday, especially with a rookie quarterback under center, no matter how impressive Ryan Tannehill has been at times.

10. While the rookie quarterbacks are flashing positive signs, the sophomore slump is in full effect. Dalton (63.9% completion rate, pace for 4,260 yards) is doing just fine, but Cam Newton (six TD passes, just four on the ground, 77.7 passer rating), Christian Ponder (eight interceptions in his last five games), Blaine Gabbert (78.4 passer rating) and injured Jake Locker have struggled. We saw some Twitter panic about Ponder on Sunday. Relax, Vikings fans. The guy completed 68.6% of his passes through the first six games. In fact, let's chill on every one of these guys for now. Give them time.

Taking stock

Here's a glimpse at the NFL market and whether we're getting in or getting out.

BUY: The resurgence of the Green Bay Packers running game. They'll have to do it by committee, like they did Sunday against the Cardinals, but 176 yards rushing proves it's doable.

SELL: The Bengals' inability - or unwillingness - to trade for a running back last week. BenJarvus Green-Ellis has averaged better than 4 yards per carry in just one game this season.

BUY: The Pittsburgh Steelers' mental toughness. They overcame a lot of issues - day-of-game travel, bad calls in the first half and coach Mike Tomlin's bad decision to fake a chip-shot field goal - to beat the defending champion Giants.

SELL: The wasting of Larry Fitzgerald's prime years. The Cardinals are headed to their third straight season without a playoff berth. It's just not right how little we've been able to see of Fitzgerald in January games over his career.

BUY: Mikel Leshoure as the Lions' back of the future (and present) after he scored three touchdowns yesterday in the win over the Jaguars. Time to increase his workload to 20 carries or more per week.

SELL: The Cowboys scoring offense. After putting 24 on the board against the Giants last week, they were back under 20 points on Sunday for the fifth time this season.

BUY: The Ravens' resilience. We warned you in our midseason grades last week not to quit on these guys despite the losses of Ray Lewis and Lardarius Webb. They won't quit.

SELL: The Cleveland Browns' decision to go deep on a fourth-and-2 from their own 28-yard line in Sunday's loss to those Ravens. Predictably, the pass from Brandon Weeden to Greg Little did not result in a completion.

BUY: Mike Shanahan a clue. The Washington Redskins coach is already talking about next season? Why is he assuming he should automatically get a next season? He's now 14-27 in two-plus seasons with the 'Skins and hasn't had a winning season since 2006. When will Dan Snyder's trigger finger get itchy again?

SELL: The winner of tonight's game between the Philadelphia Eagles and New Orleans Saints doing anything the rest of the way. You'll wonder if the victor can use it as a springboard. Don't wonder very long, though.

Week 9 awards

Comeback player of the week: No need for a downtrodden press conference this week from Cam Newton. His numbers were average, but last year's first overall pick needed a win in the worst way after a string of crushing defeats. Newton went 13-for-23 for 201 yards, throwing for one TD and running for another (he rushed for 37 yards). And this time, he avoided the big mistake.

Surprise performance: We knew Andrew Luck was good. But at the halfway point, he has the Colts at 5-3 after an NFL rookie record 433 passing yards against Miami. Most impressive is how Luck is winning - he's pulling out the close games. All of Indianapolis' wins are by a touchdown or less.

Biggest disappointment: Shanahan called Sunday's game against the Carolina Panthers a "must-win." Washington responded with a 21-13 loss. And now, at 3-6, this Robert Griffin III-led team, which displayed so much promise earlier this season, is struggling in the NFC. Of course, RGIII gives the Redskins more hope than they ever had with Rex Grossman or Donovan McNabb. But the results haven't been there consistently - yet.

Under the radar

- Pop Quiz: Who leads the NFL in receiving touchdowns? It's a tie between Green Bay's James Jones and Cincinnati's A.J. Green. A year ago, Jones was fighting for targets on a loaded receiving corps. Now, with Greg Jennings and Jordy Nelson injured, he's a go-to guy when the end zone is near.

- The Lions are alive and well after wins in three of their past four outings have returned them to .500. Most importantly, Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson were back on track Sunday in Jacksonville. To compete with Chicago and Green Bay, that must be the case. Johnson, despite a balky knee, hauled in seven passes for 129 yards on eight targets againts the Jags.

- Steelers running back Isaac Redman rushed for more yards Sunday (147) than he had in his previous five games (127).

Under the microscope

- No, he doesn't have a talented offense. But coach Ken Whisenhunt deserves some scrutiny for the Cardinals' five-game losing streak after a 4-0 start. Granted, there weren't many believers when the Cards were undefeated, but this isn't the same aggressive team that upset the New England Patriots on the road.

- The Browns have a new owner but are getting virtually the same results so far after losing their 10th straight game to the Ravens ... you know, the original Cleveland Browns. Don't be surprised to see a major shakeup in Cleveland after the season.

- Against his former team, Bills defensive end Mario Williams recorded a sack. But that six-year, $100 million contract continues to look worse and worse. Expected to compete for a playoff berth with a retooled defense, the Bills are 3-5.

We'd be concerned if we were ...

- Ryan Fitzpatrick. Earlier in the week, Buffalo GM Buddy Nix expressed the team's need to find a franchise quarterback. Fitzpatrick didn't look like that guy Sunday, failing to get the team into the end zone on an afternoon when the Bills defense performed reasonably well.

- The Raiders' run defense, which was ripped for 251 yards and four touchdowns by Doug Martin.

- Greg Schiano. Not too long ago, the first-year Buccaneers coach was getting criticized nationally for his late-game, kneel-down tactics. But look at Tampa Bay's schedule: the Bucs are 4-4 but have been in every game they've lost. The future is bright for Schiano with young, emerging talents on offense.

- The Packers. Yeah, they're banged up. But with a bye week to get healthy, Green Bay is in striking range to catch the Bears in the NFC North.

- Mike Tice. The Bears offensive coordinator has a lot at his disposal. The team traded for Brandon Marshall, re-signed Matt Forte and added Michael Bush. It's taken a while, but maybe all these weapons are finally fitting together. Marshall erupted on Sunday for 122 yards on nine receptions with three touchdowns.

- Russell Wilson. The calls for Matt Flynn to take over under center are faint echoes at this point. Maybe Wilson doesn't have a rocket arm like other rookies in his class, but he can win. Against a solid Vikings defense, he got Seattle back on track with 173 yards on 16-for-24 passing with three touchdowns and no picks.

Don't be surprised if ...

- Pittsburgh is the AFC's best team come December. With three straight impressive wins, the Steelers look like a much more complete team than Baltimore in the AFC North, and Ben Roethlisberger is still one of the game's best fourth-quarter quarterbacks.

- Chicago keeps forcing turnovers at this rate. Don't be too stunned by Charles Tillman's four forced fumbles. This has been his specialty for 10 years. The Bears defense can keep this up.

- Minnesota finishes last in the NFC North. Questions at quarterback remain. The defense is average. The Vikings' fast start is starting to look like a mirage.

- The Packers are able to weather their injuries. GM Ted Thompson drafted so many players on defense for a reason. The Packers have the depth to survive and thrive.